This article describes key aspects of Essential 6 of the Second Edition of the National Association for Professional Development Schools (NAPDS) Nine Essentials--"Clearly Written Agreements." Clearly written agreements between parties serve as crucial components in ensuring the creation, effectiveness, success and sustainability of any…

This article provides details about Essential 7, which focuses on "Shared Governance" structures. The shared governance description in "The Nine Essentials, Second Edition" is fundamental to any partnership. PDS partnerships include structures that not only guide the work of the partnership, but also enable collaboration,…

How is it known that work in Professional Development Schools (PDSs) and school-university partnerships makes a difference? If the reader is in a situation to make a succinct argument with data and evidence about why PDS and partnerships should be supported and funded could they? Essential 5, which aims to support participants in partnership work…

In this article, the authors describe a key change from the First Edition to the Second Edition of Essential 3 of the NAPDS Nine Essentials. In the original Essential 3, the concept of "reciprocal professional development" was emphasized to honor PL opportunities that are led by either school-based faculty personnel as well as…

In this article the Second Edition of Essential 5 emphasizes the values of "Collaborative Research and Inquiry" as a critical part of PDSs. Collaborative research and inquiry should involve participants from both colleges and universities as well as those who work primarily in P-12 contexts. The Second Edition of Essential 5 of the…

Purpose: The National Association for Professional Development Schools (NAPDS) recognizes that there is a tendency for the term "PDS" (Professional Development School) to be used as a catch-all for various relationships that constitute school--university partnership work. The intent of this NAPDS statement is to assert the essentials, or…

Recent reports from professional associations and accreditation agencies have highlighted a need for a rigorous, common set of expectations for clinical preparation experiences--a hallmark of educator preparation programs that are embedded in school/university partnerships and Professional Development Schools (PDSs). Missing in the movement toward…

"Partnerships in/as/for Literacies" explores the idea that literacies are as much evolving processes as they are static contents. Co-authored by university- and school-based teachers and teacher educators, pre-service teachers, and youths, columns consider how very traditional literacies (e.g., in reading, writing, composing, speaking,…

The author's work as a university faculty member and partner with local school districts remains rooted in the ideals of the Holmes Partnership and its foundational professional development school efforts begun in the 1980s. She is fortunate to have lived several classroom teacher and university professor lives--involved with nascent and…